Articles Tagged "Gary Novak"

At this time, winters are getting milder in North America due to ice melting around the North Pole. There is also an increase in rainfall due to warmer oceans evaporating more moisture. With growing seasons getting longer, this all adds up to good agriculture. The corn belt has moved farther west into the plains over the past 25 years producing record corn and soybean harvests.

This trend should continue for a century or two, until a temperature reversal occurs. It may be a volcano which causes the temperature reversal, because there is no apparent reason why a cool-down would begin otherwise.

The reversal occurs when snow and ice increase in northern areas reflecting away more radiation from the sun. Precipitation stays high, because oceans stay warm at the beginning of the reversal. The precipitation creates more snow when the reversal begins, and since more snow reflects away more sunlight, the cool-down is very rapid and irreversible.

There is not enough precipitation at this time to cause snow to increase during the winters. But precipitation is increasing as oceans warm up. It will probably be another century or two before snowfall increases enough to cause the temperature reversal.

Sea level drops about 400 feet (130 meters) during an ice age. This is because moisture which evaporates from the oceans gets tied up over land as snow and ice. A small decline in sea level should begin any time, because snow and ice are already increasing over Antarctica and Greenland. A counteracting force is increased melting of mountainous glaciers. But those glaciers are disappearing rapidly. The ice which is melting over the oceans does not change seal level; only ice on land can influence sea level.